Artist Spotlight: Flipside Editorial
June 12, 2002 Venice, CA –
Flipside Editorial, a San Francisco-based
Editorial and Visual Effects Post house, services the commercial and film
markets. They are using Brazil r/s extensively in their 3D Animation and
Visual FX department. We spoke with Flipside's CG Supervisor
Nathaniel Hunter:
Q. What rendering system features are important to the commercial work that the facility provides?
Hunter. The industry deadlines and quality requirements we work with necessitate a renderer that has exceptional expandability, speed and quality.
Q. What initially impacted your decision to choose Brazil r/s?
Hunter. A project we recently finished required the use of Global Illumination rendering to attain the stylistic look that the client wanted. We made the decision to use Discreet's 3D Studio MAX release 4 as our animation package and researched the rendering options available to us at the time. We tested SplutterFish's Brazil r/s, and several other renderers extensively with 3D models from the project and found Brazil to be the most stable, cost effective & user-definable solution. The renderers available at the time were all in a beta stage of development and the extensive support we received from the SplutterFish development team was also a major
selling point in our decision.
Q. We'd love to hear about a project where you used Brazil r/s.
Hunter. Our most recent commercial spot for
21st Century car insurance required us to create an entirely CG automobile, crash it into a wall then reassemble the car in one continuous shot. The built in renderer for max and maya couldn't handle the reflections and refraction quality required to make our car look 100% real. Being our 5th Brazil commercial this year we felt confident in Brazil's ability to bring our car to that 100% level.
Q. What were the rendering challenges?
Hunter. Initially the challenges were trying to simulate the effect of an automobiles paint job and the look of the car when the front end crashed into the wall. After a short R&D period with Brazil we were able to get the realistic look we were after with the Brazil material and HDRI support. The look of the crash posed an entirely new dilemma. Up to this point we had used Brazil for backgrounds, object animation and effects, but we had never tackled something as complex as the tearing, bending and paint chipping effect an accident has on a car's paint job. Brazil outperformed even our expectations in the reflections as they warped and crawled across the surfaces without the artifacts we had experienced in earlier max render tests.
Q. How did Brazil r/s benefit the project?
Hunter. Brazil's raytracing engine really met the challenge when we threw the accident at it. The final car model had over 1.4 million faces in it, most of which were reflecting and refracting as they were bending and flexing. Brazil stayed incredibly stable and gave us great results. Using Brazil's rendering layers was also crucial to the project as it allowed us to render the reflections, refractions, diffuse, shadows, etc. into separate images and color correct and composite them separately. This added more control in post for the final look of the spot.
Q. How would you rate Brazil r/s’ performance in a production environment considering it is still in beta?
Hunter. Learning a new piece of software always has it's own challenges, especially when the software is still in beta form. Brazil was no different in this respect. Using an entirely new rendering package in the middle of a project would have been difficult if Brazil wasn't integrated into the max UI as well as it is. Brazil fit into the pipeline here without a problem and as each build of the beta became available it only strengthened that link, making it that much easier to get results and train new artists.
Currently in wide broadcast, a
commercial for *Clorox Ready Mop* was rendered entirely with Brazil r/s. More stills:
1,
2.
Hunter. Our most recent commercial spot for 21st Century car insurance required us to create an entirely CG automobile, crash it into a wall then reassemble the car in one continuous shot. The built in renderer for max and maya couldn't handle the reflections and refraction quality required to make our car look 100% real. Being our 5th Brazil commercial this year we felt confident in Brazil's ability to bring our car to that 100% level.
Q. What were the rendering challenges?
Hunter. Initially the challenges were trying to simulate the effect of an automobiles paint job and the look of the car when the front end crashed into the wall. After a short R&D period with Brazil we were able to get the realistic look we were after with the Brazil material and HDRI support. The look of the crash posed an entirely new dilemma. Up to this point we had used Brazil for backgrounds, object animation and effects, but we had never tackled something as complex as the tearing, bending and paint chipping effect an accident has on a car's paint job. Brazil outperformed even our expectations in the reflections as they warped and crawled across the surfaces without the artifacts we had experienced in earlier max render tests.
Q. How did Brazil r/s benefit the project?
Hunter. Brazil's raytracing engine really met the challenge when we threw the accident at it. The final car model had over 1.4 million faces in it, most of which were reflecting and refracting as they were bending and flexing. Brazil stayed incredibly stable and gave us great results. Using Brazil's rendering layers was also crucial to the project as it allowed us to render the reflections, refractions, diffuse, shadows, etc. into separate images and color correct and composite them separately. This added more control in post for the final look of the spot.
Q. How would you rate Brazil r/s’ performance in a production environment considering it is still in beta?
Hunter. Learning a new piece of software always has it's own challenges, especially when the software is still in beta form. Brazil was no different in this respect. Using an entirely new rendering package in the middle of a project would have been difficult if Brazil wasn't integrated into the max UI as well as it is. Brazil fit into the pipeline here without a problem and as each build of the beta became available it only strengthened that link, making it that much easier to get results and train new artists.
Currently in wide broadcast, a commercial for *Clorox Ready Mop* was rendered entirely with Brazil r/s. More stills: 1, 2.
